After Leo and his dragon exploded, everyone went to somberly celebrate. Well, everyone but Percy. Percy had left Annebeth alone as she wanted a moment to get herself together in her cabin, and the rest of the seven went to prepare a shroud for their annoying yet lovable friend. So, he went to check out the wreckage for possible things to salvage.
The sun was setting as he dug through with bloody hands in the debris. Suddenly he felt something with his water sense. Blood. It was a lot of body shaped blood.
His powers in Tartarus took a darker turn when he found out he can control poison, because soon after that he realized that he could sense blood. When he had realized that, only for a second did he think about blood bending, or hemokinesis, when Annebeth's words echoed in his head.
'Some things are not meant to be controlled.'
When in the wreckage he sensed blood, he quickly and carefully dug towards the blood sensation. He prepared himself for the worst when he got there. And when he did get there, who he saw surprised him.
No, it was not Leo. He knew for sure that the final blast had killed him, even though his gut told him that he's going towards a certain lonely girl on an island. No, who he saw was worse.
It was Octavian, in all his bloody glory. He was barely breathing. In all honesty, Percy was surprised that Octavian had even survived that. He had half a mind to just leave him there. After all, he led the Romans against the Greeks. He tried to blackmail himself into a Praetor. He probably has done a lot more than his small knowledge of the augur.
But then he thought, what if he, himself, was the one dying there? Octavian would certainly leave him there. He would prove himself better than him by saving him. And besides, what if he was like Luke, misled? Or like Chris, needs saving?
Percy quickly checked the pulse, extremely faint. He could feel how slow the blood was going. He carefully picked him up, and now what? Bring him to the infirmary? The Apollo kids will probably just 'accidently' stick the wrong thing in the iv and kill him out of hatred.
No, that won't do. He'll bring him into his own cabin, and nurse him back to health. He doesn't think anybody would notice his absence anyway. Well, maybe Annebeth, maybe the Seven, but maybe they will understand. Or he'll just make one of his super awesome excuses. Either way, he'll make sure that he'll save every life he could.
With his musings, he didn't notice he already had reached his cabin. His beautiful, blue, ocean cabin.
Inside, it was dusty, though not surprising considering that nobody has been in here in about a year. He set Octavian very gently on an empty bed that wasn't his. Then he ran to the bathroom to 'hTe Mielcda xBo', or The Medical Box.
Due to his past with Gabe, he unfortunately knew well how to take care of injuries. After all, who can treat injuries better than the one who used to constantly get them? He just grabbed everything from the said box and ran back to his patient.
Oh Styx. Many 3rd degree burns littered the very pale body. He took off the now red robe. He had broken ribs and a fractured leg with an arm. Also, a punctured lung. Most likely a concussion. Nothing he never delt with, but that was a lot of serious injuries rolled into one.
He immediately got to work. All night the only things that were heard in the cabin of Poseidon were the shuffling of medical stuff and the ragged breathing of the descendent of Apollo.
When he was done, there was no way one could mistake it for Apollos work, but it was the very next thing. Percy wanted to guarantee that Octavian would live, but there was no such thing with all of this mess on one body.
He leaned against his own bed and closed his eyes. Percy finally started to drift to sleep with a promise of nightmares when he heard shifting on the bed. His eyes snapped open to see Octavian awake.
The Olympian throne room looked brilliant as the very young gods stood there along with all other minor gods and goddesses another extremely boring meeting about The Ghost, and the more exciting part, punishments for storytelling *cough Nico cough*.
Well exciting for everyone except the remaining Seven and others that were friendly with the son of Hades, the rest were dying (not literally. They were immortal) for something new other than the Jackson fiasco to gossip about.
"Silence!" Zeus thundered "We are here to discuss about this...Ghost and to punish the son of Hades for promoting rebellious behavior and the forbidden tale"
"But that forbidden tale freaking saved your godly asses!" loudly protested the said son of Hades
"Silence or suffer worse consequences than the ones about to be inflicted upon you! We decided you are to be turned mortal and forced into The Hunt for 5 years"
Nico had to resist an eye roll. Zeus always thinks that being mortal is one of the worst things you can have. The Hunt part, however, is a different story.
"But sir, I thought only girls are allowed into the Hunt?"
"Yes, child, I know. Which is why my daughter is going to do an... adjustment of sorts for that duration of time.
As that sank in, Nico realized that is going to be a girl for 5 fucking years. He was going to protest when he realized that it was going to get him nowhere. Oh well, Thalia and Reyna are hopefully going to make sure he stays alive. And Artemis liked him well enough. Plus, he can try to keep a man's legend alive in a manhaters camp.
Those are going to be some interesting years, but to be frank, this was nothing compared to the last 5 years. Imagine being turned into a dolphin (courtesy of Mr. D), trying to run from nasty sharks, and eating fish every day. He doesn't look at fish the same anymore. Thankfully, Poseidon liked him, so he didn't get eaten. But he thinks that being turned into a girl is bad enough. But that wasn't as bad as the 5 years before the 5 dolphin years.
When Perc-He got killed, and his story banned, the first thing Nico did was start telling them at the campfire stories. Of course, Mr. D told on Noah (he still doesn't get names right), and the first thing that his dear uncle did was turn him into a tree. A pine tree. Thals teases him relentlessly about that. Now they can be called the Pine Cousins. Or The Two Tree Cousins. He didn't know.
But what he did know was that his next 5 years are going to be torture. But it was worth it.
When the punishment was announced and fulfilled, The Remaining Seven were gaping at the spot where Nico... er Nika stood before being whisked away by Artemis. Zeus cleared his throat.
"If one has an update on The Ghost, come forward!"
Everyone shifted nervously before Jason stepped forward "All we have is based off the stories that the saved children tell us. They all describe it as a him, whitish and transparent. And they say that told to go either to the Wolf house or Big house as soon as he got them close enough to the border. They all met him when they were about to be hurt by a monster and he saves them. He is not a threat, but rather A Protector, A Guide. Please don't hunt, or worse kill him! All he has done was help all your children!" Jason begged at the end.
The Olympians seemed to have a telepathic conversation. Zeus was making annoyed faces, Ares bloodthirsty, the rest either pleading or glares. Seems like Zeus relented.
"Fine. He won't be hunted... for now" he added at the end
There was a chorus of relieved sighs heard throughout the massive throne room.